Utility carts are used as a mechanism for transporting or storing almost any type of products, parts, or items such as tools, books, mail, plants, machinery, equipment, or personal possessions, able to fit on their surface area. Utility carts have long been used in hospitals, medical offices, business offices, manufacturing plants, restaurants, hotels, libraries, and private residences. The most popular models include kitchen carts, mobile food carts, rolling filing carts, tool carts, stainless steel carts, book carts, plastic utility carts, and wire shelving carts.
Bin carts or tub carts are useful for storing or transporting products. Those with easily sliding tubs are especially useful on assembly and production lines. Use of the correct bin or tub utility cart will most certainly improve productivity and can help avoid costly worker's compensation claims. Book carts are used to store or transport books, manuals, magazines, and literature. Slanted shelves that help to keep books in place during transport offer multiple shelf options, depths, and styles. File utility carts are used to store, organize, and transport various types of files. Mobile file carts simplify the process of moving files from office to office and protect employees from the strain of lifting large quantities of records. Mobile file carts that can be used to store items other than files may come with work surfaces, shelves, drawers, baskets, or locking lids. Similarly, mail utility carts make it easy to transport valuable mail, packages, and documents essential to related businesses. Popular features of these may include removable baskets for loading and sorting, as well as file rails for hanging files. Stainless steel, chrome, or galvanized utility carts are designed to resist corrosion and rust damage, and are popular where moisture is a problem or clean up is required. They are most often used in hospitals, labs, physician offices, hotels, and restaurant preparation and/or serving areas. Tool utility carts include features to support a plurality of tools in a position to enable easy access to tools by a mechanic or other person engaged in activities which require the selected use thereof.
The most popular and versatile utility cart is the plastic utility cart. Plastic utility carts are good for storing or transporting products, and are most often used by maintenance personnel and/or in janitorial services, hospitals, restaurants, automotive service centers, commercial businesses and home environments. Most plastic utility carts are made of polyethylene, which makes them durable and easy to clean as well as rust, stain, and dent resistant. Plastic utility carts are typically general purpose carts with top shelves adjustable to different height levels. Some utility carts even offer adjustability of lower shelves. These carts are readily movable, often being supported on casters wheels, which enables them to be moved from location to location or room to room, thus enhancing their versatility. Generally the carts come in various sizes, enabling transport of different types of equipment and office supplies. As a general rule, these carts are of different overall design in order to accommodate these various needs.
As a result, various utility carts exist with specialized designs to improve, accommodate, or advance the convenience for users. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,512 discloses an “Outrigger Supported Utility Cart”. The utility cart includes a box construction supported with a set of caster wheels for mobility. Additionally, the cart includes a vertical shaft which supports one or more trays. The trays are positionable vertically on the shaft, and are also rotatable with the shaft so as to be positioned conveniently for reaching tools and parts placed thereon. An outrigger support is attached to and movable with the vertical shaft, thereby providing a utility cart having a rotationally mounted shaft with a means for countering the off-center weight of the cantilevered tray which is positioned lateral to the cart.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,659 discloses a “Tool Cart” generally in the form of an upright stand having a workbench secured on an upper surface of a tubular frame. A support member extends vertically upward from the workbench to support a plurality of pivoting tool supports. This construction allows the user to extend the tool supports outwardly for access to the tools while the upper surface of the workbench remains fully accessible.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,019 discloses an “Ergonomic Utility Cart”. The utility cart includes a bottom shelf and an upper shelf separated by four support posts which may vary in length to create carts of different heights. A vertically adjustable tray support arm mounts a support tray in close proximity to the utility cart. The tray support arm includes a vertical member which is inserted through the top shelf and into the support post and is frictionally secured thereto by a spring-loaded wedge assembly. An articulated arm is rotatably mounted to the vertical member at one end, and rotatably mounted to a support tray at an opposite end. The interior of the utility cart between the top and bottom shelves may be left exposed and accessible, or may be enclosed by a plurality of panels and door assembles.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,659 discloses a utility cart having pivotal tool supports; U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,512 discloses a utility cart having shelves on an outrigger; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,767,019 discloses a utility cart having a pivotable shelf on an outrigger. The need for a utility cart having rotatable shelves is evident in the prior art. However, what is lacking in the art is a utility cart having individually rotatable shelves on each corner post, whereby each shelf is constructed and arranged to adjoin together to form a pair of center interior shelves in horizontal alignment between pairs of corner posts.